Continuation of Long Way Back
by Petunia846
Summary: This is just how I wish "Long Way Back" had ended...you know, if they had an extra half hour or so for the episode.
1. Chapter 1

He'd said they were following him.

That worried me.

If they were following him, they were probably following me. I left Diego's apartment and took the Charger on a wild, careening ride through the streets of Miami on my way back to the loft. It didn't feel like anyone was following me, at least not by car, but that didn't mean I was safe. The last thing I wanted to do right now was to lead whoever had come after Diego right back to Mom's house where Sean and Fi were recuperating in the living room and Mom and Sam were likely sipping beers while they kept an eye on them.

I pulled into the driveway and chained and locked the fence behind me. The loft was stiflingly humid, but I wouldn't be here long. I laid a duffle bag out on the bed and filled it with some fresh clothes and "supplies." I set the lights on a timer, went out to the balcony to lower the bag down to the ground and followed it swiftly. By the back entrance to the club I spotted Oleg's BMW. A few deft movements and I was inside and on my way.

I made a mental note to pay Oleg back somehow in the near future.

I took my time getting back to Mom's house. I felt more secure now, but this was not the time to take any chances. It was after dark when I finally made it home. I parked one street over and picked my way through dark yards. When I stepped through the kitchen door Sam had a gun trained on me. It fell to his side and a look of relief washed over his face when he saw it was me.

"Mikey," He sounded tired. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem," I assured him. I was happy to see he was taking this as seriously as I was. "Everything okay here?"

I set my bag down and Sam pushed a sandwich in my direction.

"Yeah. It's been quiet. Your mom went to lie down and our patients in there just woke up from a long nap. I was just getting them something to drink."

I eyed the two beers on the counter warily.

"Don't worry, those are for me."

I raised my eyebrows at him but didn't say anything. Sam just gave me a half grin and pulled two glasses out of the cabinet. I could hear whispering in the living room, but I couldn't make it out. Sam filled the glasses with some kind of fruit juice blend and added a straw to each one.

I took half of the sandwich and followed Sam into the living room. Fiona was off the couch and leaning over her brother as they conspired.

"Fi!" I chastised with the tone of my voice.

"I'm fine, Michael," she stretched my name out longer than she needed to. She turned towards me with a glare that told me she was feeling quite a bit better. Her skin still looked too transparent to me, but I knew that Fiona's definition of fine was a little bit more open to interpretation than mine was.

"You shouldn't be up," I told her in a low voice. I wrapped my arm gently around her waist to let her know I was concerned, not mad. She laid her head lightly on my shoulder.

Sean beamed up at us and Sam handed him a glass. He nodded thanks to Sam, took a long sip and swallowed slowly. Sam pushed the other glass into Fi's grip.

"Sorry, Michael," Sean said. "I was just catching Fiona up on some of the news from home. Wasn't much time earlier for gossip." He smiled brightly and reached out to grip Fiona's fingers, their hands swung back and forth lightly.

I smiled. It was nice to see Fi with her family. Somehow, she made more sense in the context of her relatives. It reminded me more of the Fiona Glenanne I first fell in love with. "It's okay," I assured him. "How do you feel?"

"I've been better, but I'll be alright. I'll be out of your hair soon."

I made a gesture indicating he needn't worry about that. "Do you need anything for the pain right now?" I asked, absentmindedly stroking Fi's hair as she leaned against me.

"No, no," he assured me. "You mother has taken good care of me in that regard."

I looked over at Sam with some concern. Sam just shrugged.

Fiona was suddenly pressing against me harder and I gripped her tightly to steady her. I'd forgotten her earlier experiences for a moment. "Hey," I breathed in concern. "Come on and lie back down."

My stomach fluttered as she just nodded her pale face and allowed me to guide her back across the room to the couch. Sean lay on his side, watching his sister's movements carefully. Sam disappeared to take their glasses back to the kitchen.

I smoothed her long hair away from her face and pulled a blanket up over her. She closed her eyes lightly but the corners of her lips pulled up slightly. "You need to rest," I whispered down at her as I pulled the bandage back to check the wound on her arm. It looked as good as could be expected.

"Mmm," she responded in agreement, not opening her eyes.

Sam returned with two yogurts and handed me one. He took the other one over to Sean.

"Here, Fi," I pushed a spoonful of yogurt towards her. She sat up a little and grudgingly accepted it.

"I can feed myself, Michael," she complained.

"I know you can," I stated flatly, but made no move to hand over the spoon. I ate a spoonful of it myself before feeding her again.

Sam and Sean were trying to make it seem like they weren't watching us.

I looked across the room at Sam who was on his second beer now. "Diego's dead," I told him. Fiona looked up at me with alarm. Sam just whistled under his breath.

"How'd that happen?" Sam asked.

"Went over the side of his balcony," I told them, insinuating that I was sure it was more than just an accident. "He had just called me. He said he didn't know who to trust anymore, even at the agency…said they were following him."

I fed Fi another spoonful and Sam took a big swig from his beer. Sean just watched the three of us quietly.

"You make sure you weren't followed here?" Sam asked gravely.

I nodded.

"Good."

We were all quiet for a moment.

"Mikey, you know this isn't exactly the most secure location…" Sam's voice trailed off.

"Yeah. I know. Can you…?"

"Of course, Mike. I'll have a place by tomorrow morning."

"Thanks," I told him quietly as he left the room to start making his calls.

I looked across the room at Sean and he seemed to be nodding off again. I looked down at Fi. I could tell she was stubbornly fighting sleep as she watched me.

"This couch can't be that comfortable…" I brushed my fingertips over her brow, subconsciously trying to smooth the worry out of her forehead.

"I'm okay," she whispered.

"Let's get you into my old room," I ignored her previous statement.

She started to push herself up with her uninjured arm, but I stood up quickly and gathered her in my arms, taking care not to disturb her wound. Her eyes looked up at me with a hint of amusement at my display of delicate concern. She sighed though and said nothing, letting her head rest against my chest. I carried her carefully down the hall and laid her gently on my old bed.

"Stay," I commanded quietly.

I disappeared to retrieve my duffle from where I'd left it in the kitchen. When I got back she was laying on her good side scratching at the edge of the bandage.

"Leave it," I told her, shutting the door behind me softly.

She sighed again.

I opened the bag and pulled out one of my old dress shirts. She smiled at me in a way that made my stomach flutter in a different way. She reached down and undid her shorts. I helped her pull them off then carefully pulled her shirt over her head. She looked beautiful like that, in nothing but her underwear, stretched out on the bed…but now was not the time. I helped her get her arms through the sleeves of the shirt and buttoned a few of the buttons in the front. She looked like she was drowning all over again in the pinstriped fabric, but this time it was much less terrifying. I helped roll up the sleeves so we could see her hands again. I couldn't help gazing at her for a few breaths.

"Michael, I…"

"I know," I pulled myself back to the moment.

I helped her to her feet and guided her over to the bathroom. I let her relieve herself while I found the toothbrush I'd grabbed from the loft. When I walked back over, she was leaning heavily against the sink, hair tucked over her shoulder, as she splashed water on her face with one hand. I grabbed a towel and leaned her against my side to dry her off. I held her tight with one arm while I put some toothpaste on the toothbrush for her. She shifted to stand in front of me, facing the sink, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her stomach to hold her steady against my chest. She smiled at my reflection in the mirror as she brushed.

I examined the two of us there in the glass. I looked tired. The little lines around my eyes were starting to show. Fi looked beautiful. I didn't understand how she managed to glow after a day like the one she'd had. She fit so perfectly against me. How did I ever think it would be possible to fight this…this thing we have?

I loosened my grip a bit so she could lean over and spit, holding her hair back for her. She turned around in my arms and leaned against me, her breath lightly brushing my bicep. Her hair smelled like an odd mixture of sea water and jasmine.

"Come on," I whispered and pulled her back over to the bed.

She looked so fragile buried under the comforter. I kicked off my shoes and slid into the bed beside her. She shimmied closer to me and I saw her grimace slightly as she moved her injured arm too quickly. I pressed my lips to her forehead and brushed my fingers through her hair. "Hey, careful," I murmured against her skin.

"Michael…I…" her voice was barely audible. "I'm sorry, Michael."

I pulled my head back to look at her. "What?"

"I'm sorry…I…if I hadn't tried to leave-"

"Fi," I held her face and looked at her sternly. "I'm the one who should be apologizing." I closed my eyes briefly. "You were right. I wasn't paying attention." Her hand slid up my arm slowly. "I should have listened to you when you told me you didn't trust Strickler. I just…"

"I know," she breathed. "It's okay."

I held her gaze for a long minute then pressed my forehead against hers. "I'm sorry Fi…for everything."

She just smiled at me and I couldn't hold it back any longer. I kissed her softly at first. I heard her sigh and felt her bring the full length of her body in contact with mine. My fingers wove through the hair at the back of her head and I pressed my lips against hers harder now, putting the stress that had held me tightly wound all day to good use. One of her legs slipped over mine as she tried to burrow into me tighter than humanly possible.

"Fi…I…" I whispered into the kiss. "I…"

"I know," she told me breathlessly. "Me, too."

I was panting and then I was sobbing. I held her against me and buried us deeper under the comforter. I prayed she was the only one who could hear me. We both dozed off eventually and I had the most beautiful dream…a dream where the world was just me and Fiona. Just the two of us and none of the problems that I knew would return when the sun came back up in a few short hours.


	2. Chapter 2

Originally I was not planning to continue this story, but the other day I watched the last two episodes and then reread this fic and suddenly there was more to the story pouring out. Don't know where things will go after this, if anywhere, but here you go…

***

A few hours later I heard a slight tapping on the door and a sliver of light from the hallway spilled into the dark sanctuary Fiona and I had been sleeping in.

"Mike," Sam whispered.

I shifted in bed and tried to untangle myself from Fiona without waking her. She gave a quiet little sigh, but never cracked an eyelid.

I padded my way out into the hallway rubbing my eyes, hoping that Sam would think they were bloodshot from lack of sleep and not realize it was from crying. "What is it, Sam?" I grumbled.

"I've got us a place to stay," he murmured trying not to wake anyone else. It's big enough for all five of us and it's furnished so Sean and Fi will still have a place to recuperate."

"I think we're all going to need a place to recuperate after this is done," I sighed. "Please tell me this place has fewer windows than the last place you found us."

"Well there'll be some windows, but they'll be on the 32nd floor looking out over the bay, so unless they've got jetpacks, I think we'll be okay."

I narrowed my eyes at him as if to say, 'Let's not tempt fate.'

"Fine," I said. "Let's try to get out of here before the sun comes back up. Have you gotten any sleep yet?"

"No," he said, "but I'm okay. All the adrenaline-"

"Go lay down for a couple hours," I told him. "We're all going to need to be alert tomorrow. I'm gonna start putting some bags together."

"Alright. You sure you're okay?" I nodded and shooed him off down the hallway towards what used to be Nate's room.

I slipped quietly back into my own room. I stood by the door for a moment to let my eyes adjust to the darkness again. There was a rustling in the bed and then, "Michael?"

"It's okay, Fi," I whispered as I padded over to her. "Go back to sleep." I kissed her forehead.

"Mmm," she sighed and mumbled something unintelligible and then she was back asleep.

I smiled and started unbuttoning the shirt I'd ended up sleeping in. I stripped off my pants and everything else before turning on the shower. The warm water beat against my back and I could feel that I would be getting a bruise where I'd been hit with the beanbag round. I gingerly fingered my forehead and found it was also a bit tender. All things considered though, a couple bruises were nothing more than paper cuts. With everything that had gone on today, with everything that had happened, things could have been much worse.

I tried to close my eyes against the stream of water, but when I did all I could see was O'Neil with his arm wrapped around Fi as he tried to use her to shield himself. Before I knew it I was breathing heavier just thinking about the bastard. I leaned against the tiles to steady myself and took some deep breaths until I could feel my heart rate slow down again. But when I tried closing my eyes again it only led to more visions, this time of Fiona floating facedown in the water, lifeless, with her arms bound behind her back.

It was at that point that I decided I needed to get out of the shower.

After slipping into the clean clothes I'd brought from the loft, I made my way out to the living room. Sean was still asleep so I tried to be quiet while I gathered up all the medical supplies we would need at the safe house.

Before long a creak in the hallway caught my attention. I grabbed Fiona's H&K off the coffee table and glided silently towards the sound. I was ready to pounce when my mother walked around the corner in her bathrobe.

"Mom!" I breathed, shoving the gun away as quickly as possible.

"Michael," she drawled sleepily. "I thought I heard someone up."

"You heard me? How could you hear me? Sean didn't even hear me and he was right there in the same room."

"Well, excuse me for pointing this out Michael, but if you recall…I wasn't the one shot multiple times yesterday." She paused to pull a pack of cigarettes out of a drawer. "Thank God." She lit a cigarette. "What are you doing up at this hour anyway?"

"I was packing. I need you to pack up some stuff too. We're gonna need to lay low for a few days."

The tendrils of smoke swirled around her head as she let out a breath. "Now what?" she demanded. "I thought this was finished. You said you all got rid of the guys who did this to poor Fiona and her brother. Now you're telling me we have to leave again?"

"I thought it was fixed too, Ma, but it's not. I can't explain it right now." She glared at me. "I can't explain it because I don't really even understand it myself," I tried to reason with her. "It's just…it's bigger than those guys from Ireland. It has to do with what I did to keep Fiona safe. That's all I know."

She seemed sufficiently satisfied by that response and got started making a pot of coffee.

"Mom, when Dad was sick did he ever need a wheelchair or anything like that? Do you maybe have a-"

She cut me off without even looking up. "There's a wheelchair in the back of the closet in my room."

I just blinked a few times. "Thanks," I mumbled and headed in that direction.

She poked her head around the corner as I was making my way down the hall and called after me, "Pull out my suitcase for me while you're in there, would you dear?"

"Yeah Ma."

About two hours later, Sam and I had loaded up Sam's car with the things we would need and pulled it around to the garage where we could get Sean and Fi in more discretely. Even in the dark it would be best to use continued caution. While Mom and Sam helped Sean get some breakfast and get ready, I took Fi a plate of eggs and some juice.

She was already dressed when I walked in and she stood in the bathroom running her fingers through her hair.

"Michael," she stated my name flatly as she heard me come in. "You managed to bring fresh clothes, extra shoes, three hand guns, my toothbrush, your lock picking kit, extra cell phones, Advil, and binoculars…but you didn't think to bring anything for my hair?" She looked in the mirror in disgust and threw up her hands in defeat.

I set the food down on the bedside table and walked over to her. I ran my own fingers through her hair, trying to smooth the kinks she'd work into it. I smiled my most sincere smile at her, "Your hair is always so perfect, I just thought it was fixed by little cartoon birds every morning."

She gave me a mock glare and stalked over to the food. I watched in amusement as she arranged herself delicately on the bed with her legs crossed and back straight but then began devouring the meal like a child who'd been raised by wolves.

"You look like you feel much better," I noted.

"I'm fine," she mumbled between bites. "Just a scratch."

I knew downplaying the close call was one of her coping mechanisms, so I let it slide for now. "Sam's got us a new place to stay and we need to head out soon while it's still dark. You ready to go?"

She smiled a bit too broadly and I knew it was for my benefit. "Don't I look ready?"

I held her gaze for just a moment before I whispered, "You look perfect."


	3. Chapter 3

We arrived at the safe house, or rather the safe condo, just as the sun was beginning to rise over Biscayne Bay.

"I see why you like it here, Sis," Sean commented as the two of them admired the view. "Not often we get a cloudless sunrise like this back home."

Fiona's automatic smile hid deep thoughts. "No," she murmured more to herself than to anyone else in the room.

The high-rise space had a breezy, open floor plan with three bedrooms. My mother, alternating between helpful and irritating, settled our things into the three rooms as Sam and I retrieved them from the cars in alternating shifts. We'd left Sean and Fi with orders to relax in the living room.

I dropped the last bag on the floor by the door, locked us up tightly, then joined Sam in the kitchenette to talk.

"That's it," I informed him, keeping my voice low in hopes that Fiona would stay in the other room and not try to get involved. It was not that I didn't value her advice or appreciate her insights, but she'd already gone through enough in the last 24 hours. The last thing she needed right now was another mission to worry about.

"Great." Sam offered me a mug of coffee but I shook my head. He took a sip of it himself. "So what's our next move?"

I pushed the heel of my hand to the bridge of my nose in hopes of stalling the headache that was brewing.

"The only lead we have right now is Strickler's phone. My bet is whoever took out Diego was working with Strickler. We have to be careful though, we have no idea what side this person's on or what kind of resources they have at their disposal."

Sam nodded. "Start digging too deep and we'll be next on the list for sure."

I leaned on the counter, watching Fiona across the room as she tried to find something on TV that she and Sean could agree on. "Yeah," I turned back to Sam. "I think we need to take this one slow. We're good here for now. We can lay low, take our time before we get back out there."

"We can't just shoot them and be done with it?"

I jumped at Fiona's voice, surprised to find her suddenly standing right next to me. Sam disguised a smile behind a large sip of coffee.

"You," I replied quietly, forcing my shoulders back into a relaxed position, "are not going to be shooting anyone in the near future."

"Oh, Michael," she threw her head to one side dramatically, "haven't I suffered enough these last few days? You'd really take away the one thing that I love right now?"

Sam grinned and turned to the sink to rinse his mug.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "The _one_ thing?" I asked quietly.

Her face was serious but her eyes belied a touch of whimsy. "You're right," she replied. "I'll always have shoe shopping."

I rolled my eyes as she padded off to the bedroom we'd claimed for ourselves. Opening the refrigerator, I found it unacceptably devoid of yogurt.

"Sam, do you think you could make a grocery run soon?"

"Sure thing. Not a problem."

My mother wandered out into the living room, already looking like a caged animal. A trail of smoke followed behind her like a leash.

"And could you maybe take my mom with you?" Sam started to protest. "Sam," I whispered, "it'll be best for all of us if she has a chance to get out. You know, stretch her legs."

"We just got here!" He looked at me like I'd just betrayed him to the enemy. "Fine, but you'll owe me."

"I already owe you, Sam," I told him, trying to keep my tone lighthearted. 'More than I'll ever be able to pay back,' I thought to myself.

As the two of them walked out, I settled myself in the living room to watch a rugby match Sean had found on one of the nosebleed channels. I leaned my head back against the overstuffed pillows and found my eyelids getting weightier by the second. I was apparently tired enough to sleep through the screaming fans and nauseatingly repetitive commentary.

I was not, however, tired enough to sleep through the cacophonous crash that soon emerged from the other room. Especially not when it was accompanied by a scream and then a string of curse words from Fiona.

Sean was still too injured to move on his own, but I bolted off the couch and into our bedroom. I had to use all of my balance as I stopped short right before tripping over a jumbled pile of guns and hardware that covered the floor.

"Fi!"

She was sitting on the floor on the other side of the pile, clutching the bandage on her arm. She looked up at me and her expression showed more embarrassment than pain, though I knew both feelings were present.

"Fi," I picked my way around to kneel beside her. "What the hell were you trying to do?"

"I just needed to move that bag, " she winced as I pulled her fingers away from the bandage. "Someone left it on the bed and I was going to lie down, but…"

"You pulled your stitches out," I finished for her. The red spot growing on the white bandage told me that without even having to remove it.

"You two all right in there?" Sean called from the living room.

"We're fine," I yelled back. Fiona thanked me for my discretion with a small smile. I sighed. "Why didn't you ask me to get it for you?" I helped her up and onto the bed.

"You were resting…and besides, I'm not helpless," she grumbled.

I dug around in the bag with the medical supplies and tossed the bottle of Advil over to her. She snatched it deftly out of the air with her good hand.

Continued digging finally produced fresh gauze, antiseptic spray, scissors, tweezers, and a needle and thread. When I turned back to Fiona, she had the medicine bottle pinned between her knees while she struggled to push and twist the cap off with one hand.

I dumped the supplies next to her on the bed and took the bottle from her. When I handed her two of the pills, I was shocked to see her eyes welling up with tears.

"These'll help with the pain," I offered her the pills again. "Water?" She shook her head and wiped a forearm across her face.

"It doesn't hurt," she hiccupped, trying not to cry.

"Well it's going to hurt when I start stitching it up again, so go ahead and take those."

She swallowed one, then the other as I grabbed a clean towel out of the bathroom. Sean's rugby match still blared in the other room. When I got back to the bed, she'd already peeled the soaked bandage off of her arm and was slowly pulling out the threads that were still attached to her skin.

"Let me get it," I pushed her hand away and picked up the tweezers while I wiped up some of the blood with the towel.

Her chin tucked against her chest and she knit her brow as I started to work. She was jumpy, but that was nothing new. I'd patched her up before and she was never an easy patient. At least it seemed she'd stopped crying. She turned her head away when I sprayed the area with the antiseptic. I heard a sniffle and her hand swiped at her eyes again.

"Sorry," I tried to be empathetic.

"Doesn't hurt," she maintained.

I tried to strike a balance between slow, methodical sewing so that she wouldn't have too much of a scar and working quickly so that it could be over faster. She was uncharacteristically quiet.

I snipped the end of the thread and started to rewrap her arm. "I'm done, Fi. You can look again." There was no perceptible movement, so I reached over to pull the hair away from her face. I tucked it behind her ear and made a few more passes with the tape over the gauze before ripping it from the roll.

I ran a hand up her back. "Fi? That's it. I'm done." I reached out and pulled her face around to meet mine. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were covered with tears. "Hey," I wiped some of them away, "I thought it wasn't hurting you."

"It didn't hurt," she mumbled again.

She might not be in pain, but I certainly was. My head was starting to hurt again from the confusion. If it didn't hurt I didn't know why she would be crying, but it was Fiona…who could say why Fiona did anything?

She stood and started gathering the supplies off the bed. I decided not to push it and went to rinse the bloody towel in the bathroom.

She was picking up guns one by one when I got back. "Here, let me get those," I knelt down to finish picking them up, and that's when she exploded.

"Damn it, Michael!" She clenched both fists involuntarily and winced as pain shot through one arm. "Can't you let me do one damn thing by myself?"

I was too shocked by her outburst to reply immediately so I just took a step back and sat on the bed.

She continued picking up the contents of the bag for a few moments, then finally said, "I'm sorry. I just…I need to not feel so helpless right now." She glanced at me and I grabbed her good arm and tugged gently to bring her to sit next to me on the bed. One arm made its way around her back as I laced my fingers with hers.

I kissed the top of her head and I pulled her in towards me. "The Fiona Glenanne I know is never helpless," I assured her.

"She was yesterday," she whispered, and finally I understood. She wrapped her good arm around me and buried her face in my neck, her chest started to rise and fall more forcefully as she tried to fight off tears again.

I mumbled unintelligible assurances into her hair.

She pulled back to face me. "It was close, Michael…too damn close. You could have died. Sean could have died. I could have died. Isn't it time now to just let it go? How many times do you have to almost fall off the edge of the cliff before you go back to the trail?"

"I've never been a big fan of hiking."

She rolled her eyes at me. "You know what I'm saying."

"I know what you're saying, Fi." I paused, unsure whether it was a good idea to actually voice my next thought. "But you know I can't stop now. If you still want to leave, try to get out of Miami…I don't like it, but I understand. Let me help you this time. I'll help you find some place safe. I'll-"

She cut me off with a kiss.

"I never _wanted_ to leave, Michael. I just couldn't stand to see you stray so far from your moral compass." I couldn't continue to look her in the eye and lowered my gaze to my lap.

"I have to go after this, Fi. Diego died because of me. I have to know why and I need to do something about it."

She collapsed against me and sighed. "I know," she whispered.

I wasn't sure if that was her approval or just an acknowledgment of the unavoidable truth, but she was relaxing in my arms and, for the moment, that was enough for me. The rest could be sorted out in the coming weeks.

I kissed the top of her head. "So how about that nap you wanted?"

She shifted against me and pulled us both down to lie on the bed. She smiled at me sleepily. "Now that's a plan I can fully embrace."


End file.
